Crack down on wire thieves and street lamp outages

SACRAMENTO, CA - Copper wire thefts continue to plague the greater Sacramento area and bug News10 viewers. One viewer, Daniel Grey, got in touch with News10's Kate Larsen when his neighborhood was left in the dark for months after thieves ripped out wire from street lamps in his North Sacramento neighborhood.

"I do have a home alarm, surveillance, a fence, I had dogs," says Grey who also recently installed an outdoor security lamp over his garage to brighten up his dark corner at Grand Avenue and Schutt Way. Grey says his neighborhood is dangerous and is concerned the street lamp outage will contribute to crime. "There's quite a bit of crime, these houses have been broken into," says Grey who adds "this is really bugging me."

Grey says his street lamps went out in November and since then he has called and emailed the City of Sacramento on multiple occasions but to no avail. Linda Tucker, with the City of Sacramento's Department of Transportation, says crews are two to four months behind on repairs. "It continues to be a plague on our city. It is costing enormous stress on the staff as well as the neighbors... We do hear, we are listening and we are doing everything we can."

The City of Sacramento gets three new reports of wire theft every day and the repairs will likely double Sacramento's street lamp budget to a million dollars per year. But, the money hasn't gone unnoticed. The district attorney is charging thieves with more serious crimes, like vandalism, on top of theft and the Sacramento Police Department has three new detectives specifically working metal thefts. "They're looking at them as far as patterns and repeat offenders," says Sgt. Andrew Pettit.

Pettit urges Sacramentans to look out for wire thieves and to call police if you see any suspicious activity in your neighborhood. Pettit says not to approach anyone that looks suspicious but to get a description of the person and their vehicle.

Fortunately for Grey and his neighbors, the street lamps at Grand Avenue and Schutt Way are back on and working. Grey says crews came out to make repairs last week after News10 contacted Sacramento DOT. "I'm not bugged with this issue any longer. Kate Larsen, due to the phones calls she made, I believe that expedited getting our lights turned on quicker."

If something is buggin' you, then you can bug Kate Larsen! You can email her at bugkate@news10.net.